Bus went into my car - Advice

[milob5914]

Hey Guys

A bus drove into the side of my car when he pulled out. I got a letter from an accident management company who are working on behalf of London General Transport, and it says in BOLD., we will get your car repaired "at no cost to you" and we will give you a courtesy car "at no cost to you" so i called to confirm that they are admitting liability, and they wouldnt answer, so not sure what to do before i get them to get the car repaired.

Thanks

[Alucidnation]

Let your insurance company deal with it.

It's what you pay them for.

[milob5914]

Yes but i dont want them to then say its my fault and then i have to pay an excess or do i only pay if i agree to? I mean i have dash cam footage too and it was their fault black and white

[Alucidnation]

You could always call them and ask.

You will have to declare it come renewal time anyway, regardless of fault.

[valiant]

You’ll have to declare it anyway as a non fault claim so I’d let them crack on.

I imagine they either self insure or have such a large excess that it’s far cheaper for them to deal with your car themselves.

(Be prepared for your car to come back painted red with an Oyster card reader stuck to your dash though.)

[hunton69]

Arriva bus drove into one of my buses there insurance company was great I sent them an estimate they paid me the money on the estimate before I got my vehicle repaired probably could of gone for a replacement vehicle but as I didn’t need one I didn’t.

[deggles]

Alucidnation said:

Let your insurance company deal with it.

It's what you pay them for.

This x1000.

Speak to your insurers and get the car repaired on your terms, to your satisfaction, not theirs.

[Chrisgr31]

deggles said:

This x1000.

Speak to your insurers and get the car repaired on your terms, to your satisfaction, not theirs.

and prepare for calls from accident management companies etc.

London's buses will almost certainly be involved in plenty of accidents. The companies running them will therefore have become aware that they are a lot better of just getting things they have hit fixed and by them supplying a courtesy car in the meantime/ I would let them fx it, and just notify your insurance company as you are obliged too.

Any other option is just increasing the cost of insurance for everyone.

[PisstNBroke]

Sounds like they've admitted liability in the letter, the person on the call centre cant comment as its beyond her grade.
Personally I would always insist on using your own repairer and to help favour it just get a quote and pass it on. End of day its what insurance is for and in the small print most write "you must inform us on any accident within 48 hours" or along them lines.

[Cyberprog]

I remember when my car was bashed by a bus - parked by a bus stop and he pulled in at an angle then took off even sharper, tail end whacked my car. Luckily someone saw, made a note and they admitted it.

Turns out that a lot of bus companies self insure.

[Sheepshanks]

deggles said:

This x1000.

Speak to your insurers and get the car repaired on your terms, to your satisfaction, not theirs.

Increasingly insurers will insist you send it to their repairer, who they'be beaten senseless on cost. If you can persuade them to let you use another repairer, they'll be arsy about it, and it can leave you in an awkward position if there are problems as your insurer won't care.

I think in the OP's case what the bus company is trying to head off is people going to accident management companies who will grossly inflate the cost - they've given themselves a defence against that so will reject all inflated costs.

When an Arriva bus swiped wife's parked car, they sent an assessor to the house who produced a very "full" estimate, and they directed us to a well regarded local bodyshop and provided a list of cars we could have. Once they'd seen the car I asked a PDR guy I know to have a look and he completely polished the scuffs out. I asked Arriva if they'd pay us the estimated cost and they just sent a cheque - slightly annoyingly it was ex-VAT, but they said if I got it repaired and sent them a VAT receipt they'd pay it .

[strain]

We had this, car was stationery, the arriva team reviewed on board CCTV to check they did hit the car but once they saw their own footage they sent an assessor, He gave me options (cheque or they repair it) Enterprise dropped a hire car off, they collected wifes car, I picked it up a few days later

wasnt the best job in the world, laquer started to flake 3 years later just as we sold the car

[Resolutionary]

Last May my parked car was hit by a bus - driver clearly damaged the bus because he left a note and some of the bits were on the floor next to my smashed bumper.

Hire car appeared after some phonecalls, assessor went to write my car off at over market value and I got a nice little payout plus the car never left my drive. My insurance wasn't involved and due to a bit of initial faff, I even got the hire car for a month. All in all, would totally let a London bus admit hitting my car again!

[Eyersey1234]

The company I work for is effectively self insured for most things as the excess is £50k, I expect other companies will be the same.